Feb 24 2009
Obama Delivers Speech Before Congress
President Obama tried to both offer Americans hope that brighter days are coming and warn against excesses during his speech tonight to a joint session of Congress. Although not officially billed as a State of the Union address, the speech lacked none of the traditional pomp and circumstance.
Democrats warmly cheered and often stood for their new president. Republicans were respectful but clearly cooler to the proposals Obama offered. That’s not a surprise, given the opposite was true last year during George W. Bush’s final State of the Union speech.
The president has a very aggressive agenda. His first goal is fix the economy. He also wants to reform entitlements, including health care, Medicare and Social Security, in 2009. He affirmed his promise to halve the federal deficit. The federal debt has ballooned past $10 billion. Obama also wants to expand federal education spending and see American students become the world’s best by 2020.
